KIRKUK, Iraq -- The 18th Engineer Brigade officially assumed responsibility for missions in the Kirkuk region when its leaders uncased the brigade colors here Nov. 6.
The engineers are responsible for Iraqi engineer partnership, as well as route clearance and construction projects in northern Iraq.
The unfurling was part of a traditional ceremony at Forward Operating Base Warrior that passed the Kirkuk area of responsibility from the 1st brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division to the 18th. During the event Col. Matthew Russell, the 18th's commander, and brigade senior noncommissioned officer Command Sgt. Maj. David Clark uncased their unit's standard.
Guests at the ceremony included Kirkuk Governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa Fatah; Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of 1st Armored Division and Multi-National Division - North; Maj. Gen. Michael Oats, commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division and Multi-National Division - Center; and Howard Keegan, Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team leader.
In his remarks accepting the 18th's new mission, Russell said his Soldiers will earn the respect of the people of Kirkuk and build on U.S. forces' successes there, just as the troops of the 1st Brigade Combat Team did.
The 18th Engineer Brigade, a U.S. Army Europe unit based in Heidelberg, Germany, deployed to Tikrit, Iraq, in May.
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